


DOA

by beenwandering



Series: tumblr made me do it [3]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, I Don't Even Know, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-22
Updated: 2012-08-22
Packaged: 2017-11-12 16:58:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/493581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beenwandering/pseuds/beenwandering
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur is a CSI. Percival is the Coroner's Assistant he keeps running into.</p>
            </blockquote>





	DOA

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cheese](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheese/gifts).



“What’s the scene? I just got the call to head over,” Arthur asked the first police officer he saw. He had received a message asking for his assistance at a crime scene at the local shop with little other detail.

“DB, suspicious circs. The body’s just down the hall there and to the left. It’s pretty bloody, watch your step.” The officer turned back to the perimeter he was holding as Arthur grimaced. He set down the large case full of equipment he had been carrying and opened it up. He grabbed a pair of shoe covers. He managed to gracefully balance until he slipped them on over his sneakers.

As he made his way down the hall and turned the corner he was met with the crime scene. Sure enough blood was spattered across most of the objects in the room and in the center of it was a man face down on the floor.

With all the activity in the room - criminalists bustling about, taking pictures, collecting samples; detectives barking into their phones, questioning civilians - Arthur nearly missed the man approaching the body. Percival. Percy. Perce. P-dog. Arthur cringed as he remembered the one time he had blurted the P-dog nickname at the man, immediately regretting how lame it had sounded. He couldn’t seem to help himself around him. Nothing made Arthur nervous, he worked with blood and death and hard criminals every day. But Percival always squeaked past his defenses.

Sure, Percival was large, larger than your average man. He was half a foot taller than Arthur and sported muscles that spoke of a past career in something distinctly different than a coroner’s assistant. But it really wasn’t his stature that frazzled Arthur.

Percival looked up at the sound of footsteps and, seeing Arthur, smiled brightly.

It was that. That damn smile. He could handle it if Percival were some man he ran into at the grocery store now and then or someone he passed on his morning run. But he worked with Percival; every time there was a murder to be investigated Arthur and Percival were sure to cross paths. It also happened that Percival, intimidating though he may look, was one of the friendliest people Arthur had ever encountered. He always gave Arthur that smile, the one that covered his whole jaw and lit up his eyes, always asking how he was doing and sounding so genuine. No matter how gruesome the scene, Percival always managed to quell Arthur’s stress.

So naturally he was falling head over heels for the other man.

He knelt down beside Percival, both of them hovering over the body. Arthur suppressed his inappropriate feelings and tried to focus on the work in front of him. “What’s it look like, Perce?” He asked.

Percival’s muscles bulged under his shirt and he turned the body over. “Deep lacerations to the upper torso, abrasions on the hands and chest. Your guys are looking into some equipment in the corner that might make this type of wound.” He pointed to a group of workers taking samples from a machine. “T-O-D was approximately four hours ago.”

Arthur jotted down the information in his notepad and grabbed his camera to start documenting the body. He had taken a couple pictures and had just collected some fibers when Percival’s voice startled him out of his concentration. “So what are you doing here?”

He blinked and looked down at the evidence collection kit in his hand. “I…work here?”

Percival laughed and gave him that bright smile again. “I meant, I thought this was your day off.” Oh. Well Arthur felt dumb for that one.

“Yeah, I got a call for extra help though and headed in,” Arthur explained. A brief pause and then, “How did you know it was my day off?”

He may have been imagining it, wishful thinking, but Percival seemed to blush at the question. “You work too hard.” He gathered his equipment up and stood.

Arthur smiled up at him before snapping another picture. “It’s alright. There’s no rest for the wicked, and I like to catch them. But hey, isn’t it your day off too?” And wow, Arthur hadn’t even realized he had memorized the other man’s schedule.

“I guess we’re both suckers for someone who needs our help,” Percival replied. “It’s too bad, I had big plans for today.”

“Oh?”Arthur stood and faced him, curious.

Percival smiled again and this time there was no mistaking it, there was definitely a blush coloring his cheeks. “Yeah, I was finally going to ask this guy out.”

Arthur’s expression threatened to drop into thunderous jealously, but he forced himself to stay level. “Well,” he said, focusing on staying steady. “You’re just about done here and I’m sure Doctor Gaius is going to do the full exam. Maybe you’ll still have time to ask him out.”

“I doubt it,” Percival replied. “He got called into work too.” Percival’s eyes swept around the cluttered scene, blood and evidence still scattered everywhere waiting to be collected. “And it looks like he’s going to be busy for a while.”

Arthur followed Percival’s gaze around the room and let the words filter through his brain. Called in. Busy. Ask out. Him?

Percival continued, “Maybe next Thursday. I think he and I both have that day off. Maybe he’ll want to grab some coffee with me.”

Arthur mentally checked his schedule, disbelief at the realization. He wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip through his fingers. “You know I think he’d probably really like that.”

Arthur was able to finish processing the scene with no trouble at all, fueled by the smile Percival had given him in response.


End file.
